AOL PC no Video output to monitor HELP!

OK guys need some help here I am trying to fix this PC, well a girl friend of mine, not my chick but a friend purchased this AOL pc system. Of course without consulting me. Well I dont know how long she's had it but she called me up the other night telling me it was not working. She said it would shut down after ther Xp logo appeared. To me that sounds like a virus off the bat. So i ask her to deliver her tower over at my place. Days later I hook it up at my home and to my surprise I am not getting anything on my
monitor. Strange I had this happen before with my dells internal VGA and realized I had to have the monitor connected before I started my pc. I also had this problem with another friend, I had ran out of option when fixing his pc so I gave up and took it to a shop. The guy at the shop told me that the ram was dissconnected causing it to not transfer anything to the Monitor. I trusted his knowledge since he did that for a living. So I figured this was the problem with this AOL pc, I checked all connections and nothing no image. My friend said this did not occur before she brought it over and that she was able to get an image. The only thing I can do is buy a VGA card and hook it up so I can get to work on this baby! Any one had this problem beofore? Juan.